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1 Mark Gleiwitz
| Issuer | Magistrat der Stadt Gleiwitz |
|---|---|
| Year | 1914 |
| Type | Local banknote |
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| Obverse description | Plain cream paper with a central vertical guilloche band in red, flanked by the denomination text "Eine Mark" in bold letterpress. The upper left bears the validity inscription "Gültig bis zum 31. Oktober 1914." above the redemption text naming the Stadthauptkasse in Gleiwitz, dated 5 August 1914, with the issuing authority "DER MAGISTRAT" below and two manuscript signatures at the foot. A circular official ink stamp of the Magistrat Gleiwitz appears at right, alongside a typeset serial number in the upper right corner, while a blind embossed municipal seal is visible at lower left. |
|---|---|
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| Protection description | Blind embossed circular municipal seal of the Magistrat Gleiwitz, visible on both obverse (lower left) and as a relief impression on the reverse (right centre), incorporating an eagle device |
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| Comments |
Gleiwitz (now Gliwice, Poland) was one of dozens of German municipalities that issued emergency paper money in the late summer of 1914 when the mobilization for war caused an almost immediate hoarding of metal coinage. These Stadtkasse notes — backed by nothing more than the issuing town's credit — flooded local commerce within weeks of the August mobilization decree, filling the vacuum left by vanishing Reichsmünzen.
The embossed municipal seal was the primary authentication device, which made these notes trivially easy to counterfeit by anyone with access to a press — a vulnerability well understood at the time and essentially ignored out of necessity.